Black style with grace and grit

At this year's Met Gala in New York, fashion transcended spectacle, becoming a soulful tribute to memory and cultural legacy

- Lesego Chepape

On the first Monday of May, under the twilight skies of Manhattan, the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art once again transformed into a runway of reverence, spectacle and unapologetic self-expression.

But 2025's Met Gala was more than a fashion event — it was an offering. An ode. A quiet, rhythmic drumming of history, heritage and healing stitched together with every dart, hemline and satin lapel. This year's theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, did not merely inspire couture; it ignited remembrance.

The Costume Institute, in a curatorial masterstroke, opened its vaults and imagination to explore black dandyism — a centuries-old tradition where black men and women use clothing to affirm their presence, their resistance and their joy.

Drawing from the work of scholar Monica L Miller, whose landmark book Slaves to Fashion unravels the politics and poetics of black sartorial expression, the exhibit stood as a living archive. It moved like a jazz improvisation — cool, sharp, defiant.

The red carpet became a procession of memory, elegance and intentionality. And, in a year when the world has had to recalibrate its relationship with beauty, the Met Gala felt less like a party than a ritual.

A few women stole the show on the red carpet...

Rihanna floated in as if summoned from a dreamscape of fabric and fertility. Her custom Marc Jacobs gown announced her third pregnancy with a tender elegance, the kind only Rihanna could wear without pretence.